Hill Country River Region Classic

This was a tough ride. I had never ridden so hard in my life... It was a spare of the moment kind of event. My buddy, CrazyKat, wanted to try it so; but I was not thinking ahead. We left the valley, heading towards Gardner State Park, kind of both of us had to work late. finally arriving at our camping spot; setting tent in the dark is not good idea. It was around 11:00pm when I went to sleep.
Early the next morning, their was a heavy dew so it was getting us wet; riders could be seen heading to the starting line. I did the same and took a spot upfront so I had a good lead. We planned a strategy,ridding together. Our thoughts were, how are we going to achieve our goal which was to finish all 62.5 miles on our bikes. We started ridding together, for the first 10 miles then Jamie decreased his pace. I picked up speed to make my first climb. It was to be one of many. Soon, my legs started to feel the pain because it was one climb after another; their was no end insight.
The arrow road started winding sharply but we kept going up. Sometimes, it felt that I could walk faster than I ridding. The only reason I did not get off my bike like many cyclist is because I saw some riders having problems re-start to peddle. After 40 miles, I started on my descent. It was hard to maintain control on the wet road; for a moment, my thoughts were "don't lose control" or else it's Lights out buddy. I happened to managed control of my Fuji probable because I had new tires. It was crazy to reach speeds of 45mph especially on a wet asphalt.
As I got to the site, I looked for CrazyKat but he was not to be seen. I ate lunch, rested, and showered; still no sign of Jamie. Two hrs., later he waked to the campsite. He had a story of his own about his personal adventure. I was glad he was fine because before our journey I brought to his attention that his front tire had a large cut.

Boy what "Hills the Hill Country has"!

Conquer the Coast

Conquer The Coast
I completed 65 miles on my Fuji RC. It was a tough ride because it was my first time ridding in large groups. Sport Federation helped organize a group of riders to participate in Corpus Christi Texas. I set out with the first group at around 7am.
My first climb was the steep Bridge heading to Portland; when I started going down I reached a top speed of 40 mph. I tried keeping-up with the more experienced riders but I was left behind at around the 20 mile marker. I managed to catch-up at the Ferry because the first group had arrived early and had to wait.
I refueled on some powerbars and drifted for a while behind a fast group but they were trying to bump me out because I was not pulling. I missed the time trial sensor and had to backtrack avoiding a bad wreck. A couple of riders collided snapping bikes it two. As I passed through the military base, I had already acclimated to the humid weather and rising temperature. As the Temp rose, every mile, seemed like if I had one hundred more to go. As I closer to the city, the towering buildings were markers that I was at the end of the line. I knew I had made it.
I arrived to some cheers and quickly had a plate of BBQ and a beer. Every completing competitor received a metal.
What a ride to remember!

Memorial Histiocytosis

20th Annual Bicycle Hot Trek 250:
The night before our trip to San Antonio we were given the rules of ridding on FM 281. The group left Roselawn Cemetery at 8:00am after a prayer to Jolie Ann and Sarah Ximena Perez. Miracle Riders Bicycle team hosted a benefit ride was to bring awareness of a rare blood disease that took two small sisters.
We exited McAllen by way of Jackson Rd., then 107 and onto 281. Sports Federation provide "SAG" for the group heading North and food. Every twenty five miles we rested and pushed on till our next stop. The trip had its share of mishaps but nothing major; one lady took a spill early in the ride becaus of loose stone by the shoulder. Another rider had five flats and had to borrow from other riders that had spares. When we reached the centinial marker everyone celibrated that we had 100 mile under our belt. The wind was picking up and some riders became weary and had to load bike onto trucks. We came into Alice, our group was riding around town lost. I told Jesse i'm ready to call it quits by the time I turned to ask him if he was going to continue; he was loading his bike.
I found myself having to continue because other riders wanting to press on. The sign declared 15 miles to Lake Corpus Christi and I was running out of gas; It was 5:00pm and I had been on a small seat. My butt was hurting and any where I positioned myself was painful.

I road in the State Park and cood smell the food. After a great meal I showered and headed home. I had completed my goal and had participated for a good cause.

Duathlon GNC 2008 RETO RIO BRAVO

After finishing the 6 hrs race my friend call that he wanted to go to Mexico and race in a Duathlon.
Each participant had to cycle 7km twice and run 4km twice. First, I had to run 4km then I got on my bike for a 7km ride after placing my bike on the rack I had run another 4km; by then my legs were jelly. I found myself walking instead of jogging. I finally reached my bike; I was practically the last one to finish the race. It did not matter because they served beer to relax our muscles.
That is was hard for me to get around because "boy" was I hurting.

until the next race..

6 Hr MTB

6 Hour Endurance MTB race.
I managed to finish six laps in 5:54:07. After the fist two laps, I wanted to quit because of breathing complications.
A month earlier, I had bought a bike ant started riding at Mission Trails. Soon, I got the bug to participate in races; my main goal was not to win but to experience riding in groups. I often heard "passing on the left", I knew a rider was getting ready to overlap me. My legs started cramping on the third lap I guess my training lacked nutrition. I would stop to walk my bike and found some relief but before I gave them a chance to recover I was back on. On the fifth, lap I was in real Pain and did not have a "side kick" to help carry me out because I had pushed my body to the limit.
At the end of my sixth lap I was coming to the start/finish line when I heard you have 10 min before the deadline. "Try one more lap!" I replied I can't..

Maybe next year..

SERIAL DE MONTANA 2008

The next morning:
I went to Matamoros MX to participate in a mountain bike series. On April 6th, I raced in the beginners division. When they yelled go, I took off as fat as I could go; shortly I found myself being passed by kids(10yrs). Once we reached the steep climbs, I caught up with the kids but had problems passing them because they were blocking the trail. I got frustrated because I could have placed on the top ten if only I had maintained some distance from those kids. On my next race, I learned my lesson and race in the Master division.

On the second race, of the series, 5/11/08 I was doing great. I reached a wooded area called "La tumba".when all of a sudden, I hit a mesquite tree with my rear wheel real hard. The impact was hard enough to send me flying 15' and landed on my head. My rear tire was flat, I was in a daze, and had to accept a DNF I couldn't complete the race in the condition I was in. I walked back nad loof for my teamate and tell him the bad news.

The Begging 2-20-2008

I bought my first MTB from Joshua it was a Iron Horse hard tail; But it was stolen a month later from my Jeep, right in front of my office (dam crooks). Shortly, I bought my next bike was a GT Avalanche expert. It has performed flawless on many races.

Before every race I get it tuned at "Bike Master".

Ruben